Amazon’s Rumored Tablet Won’t be Named Scratchpad

As Amazon had recently registered a domain name for Scratchpad, there has been speculation on the Internet that the Internet retailer may soon launch its own tablet to compete with rival bookseller Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color and Apple’s iPad under the Scratchpad brand. However, that may not be the case as the Scratchpad name may be related to tools that Amazon is offering to developers.

According to The Next Web, “Amazon’s legal department registered several domain names on the 25th of March, including AmazonScratchpad.com and several variations that include the letters MWS — Amazon’s Marketplace Web Service.”

As Scratchpad includes tools that Amazon has since released for developers, it seems unlikely that the company will release a tablet under the same branding.

Speculations over an Amazon-branded tablet have been swirling since the rumoured Amazon Appstore, which has since launched, for Android smartphones as a third-party app store that rivals Google’s native Android Market. The company has been making an aggressive push into the digital space with the Amazon Appstore and now with Amazon Cloud Player for mobile devices, which could signify a larger digital strategy that can set an Amazon-branded tablet apart from the competition. Unlike Barnes & Noble, which has both an e-ink and a color touchscreen-based e-reader tablets, Amazon is currently limited to a dedicated e-ink e-reader.